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National Employment Law Project
90 Broad Street, Suite 1100, New York, NY 10004
Our economy is in the midst of a major restructuring in the way business operates, particularly in industries where people of color are over-represented like trucking, warehouse, delivery, janitorial, landscaping, security and home health care.
In this section we explore practices and policies to stop low-road contracting out – practices that shift risk and cost onto workers themselves, while profits flow back to CEOs.
NELP supports worker-led organizing by helping to draft innovative legislation, providing research, communications support and legal analysis to both enforce existing laws and create new solutions.
In this report, NELP describes the job structures and impacts on workers in selected contracted sectors, outlines model policy responses, and proposes a new framework for expanding employer accountability for those in their business.
Today, responsible contracting practices are essential to attracting, retaining, and protecting a qualified workforce.
In a new fact sheet, Catherine Ruckelshaus and Caitlin Connolly discuss some of the basic ways employers can adopt responsible contracting policies in order to ensure that everyone connected to their business operation receives decent wages and basic workplace protections.
Learn more about responsible subcontracting best practices.
For many workers, the company you “work for” may not be the company that calls the shots at work. But dating back as far as the early 1900s, our laws provide that companies that share control with their subcontractors over working conditions may also share accountability for violations of workers’ rights.
More than one employer can be found to be responsible to workers, jointly with another. That means that companies at the top must provide better oversight of working conditions and ensure broader compliance with basic labor and employment laws.
Businesses that engage low-road contractors and then look the other way gain an unfair advantage over companies that play by the rules, resulting in a race to the bottom that rewards cheaters. It’s one reason why the job quality of what were formerly middle-class jobs in America is suffering today.
Learn more about how NELP is working to prevent workplace violations in joint employment.
National Employment Law Project
90 Broad Street, Suite 1100, New York, NY 10004
